Saying Goodbye
by Riana Bay
Summary: Lily and James had a wonderful fairy tale relationship before it ended, and Lily has moved on. When she gets engaged to somebody else, she must go back home to say goodbye,and gets more than she's bargained for. Has the fairy tale really ended? 1shotLJ


Maybe not every story has a happily ever after, and not every princess needs to be saved. I found my prince, but I also lost him, and I've yet to find the likes of that happening in any faerie tale. We met at school. It was the same famous story: Girl meets Boy, Girl hates Boy, Girl falls in love with Boy... Girl loses Boy. He was my first love, and our time together was perfect. There were scenic picnics, candlelight dinners, passionate evenings, and sweet mornings after. However, maybe good things are not meant to last. Maybe true love is a falsehood.

Anyway, this princess became entranced by her job, and the prince and I moved apart. It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be, saying goodbye. I met another man, a reliable and hard-working man. Maybe I didn't love him, but we worked well together, and I'd given up on love long ago. When he proposed, tastefully in a five star restaurant, I accepted at once. I had one final thing to do before the wedding- say goodbye. I had to do the unthinkable.. I had to go back home.

I'll never forget that night. There was a warm summer breeze. The carnival was in town, and I knew he would be there. James. My past. My first. The one who said, when we said goodbye, that we would be back together someday. The one who believed in love. The one who was waiting patiently for me.

I saw him there, smiling happily and dancing with his friends. I didn't want to be the one to crush his happiness. I am such a monster.

Everybody was dancing. Feeling hands on my back, I spun around to face his best friend grinning at me.

"Been a while," Sirius Black said casually, flicking the long black hair out of his eyes.

"Sure," I said just as casually, wary. "How are you?"

He now grinned. "Well enough to push you around the dance floor."

We spun off to a lively song about First Love. Irony reached up to smack me harshly in the face, but I told it to bugger off. There is no such thing as love. While Sirius whipped me around the dance floor, I realized it had been so long since I'd just... had fun.

Then I saw him, dancing next to us with a girl who was making eyes at Sirius. Suddenly my partner was abandoning me for that girl. I was standing alone in the middle of a dance floor with James.

He looked up at me, and suddenly the collar of my denim jacket felt too tight. I was conscious that the long curls that had been framing my face were now whipping in the wind.

"Been a while," he said with a long look.

Phrase of the night. I could only nod.

He blinked and looked around. "...want to dance?"

I finally looked away.

"I'm getting married," I muttered to my boots.

"Oh." He was still staring at me.

"Right," I said, feeling like I'd done what I'd come to do. "Goodbye."

As I turned to leave I felt his hands grab my shoulders and turn me around to face him, his lips crushing mine and his hands fisted in my hair. I have not felt that electric shock from a kiss since.. Well, since him, actually.

He broke the kiss as suddenly as he had started it, and before he turned away, said one last thing...

"Goodbye."

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Weeks later I was still laden with wedding plans, but I could not get my mind off of that kiss. Could I really go the rest of my life without feeling like that every again? Nobody else could make the world stop with a kiss.

A few days before my wedding I knew I had to say goodbye.

Love isn't false, and it is everlasting. You can't run from it, and you can't ignore it. James knew that, and deep down I knew it too. That's the damn problem with faerie tales, once you fall in love, you're gone.

I didn't get married. I said goodbye. I got screamed at, and I took it all in stride. I went back home again. Back home to where James was waiting with open arms and his confident smile. Back home, with my prince, to our palace.

You know, you really can go back home again. You really can rekindle first love. And you really can have a Happily Ever After.


End file.
